watch your BT bills as BT have (without notification) changed how they charge for your/their line rental

i have just spent 30 mins on the phone getting 2 months free line rental because of the lack of any notification for any changes

just be aware peoples …

I take it it's a bad change then.

If it's much more expensive then I'll be telling them to FO.

I just had a bill on 7th November, and none of the charges have significantly changed for me. I've just checked the October update, and can't see much difference there either.

What's happened to yours?

I thought the OP suggested it was the way it was done, not how much it is

How have they changed?

BT's billing system was why I left them for my current provider.
BT - Monthly fixed rate billing or pay the correct amount every three months.
Everyone else - pay the correct amount every month.

You do realise that's optional?

I never went for BTs stupid monthly rate because it's stupid. I pay in full in arrears quarterly. £11 a month line rental, all local and national calls free.

I just wish my energy suppliers would let me pay the same way, but they charge a large penalty if you do

The only options they gave us (back then)was 1) To pay a fixed amount every month regardless of how much we spent, or B) To pay the correct amount every third month. They wouldn't let us pay the full amount every month. That's why we left. It may be different now, but I have no need to go back as I'm happy with my current provider. I like paying the full amount I owe every month, just like I've been doing with my mobile for years.

I used to have to pay £17 a month DD but the bills were quarterly. They'd never drop the DD even when I was in credit. When I left after 2 years the had to send me a cheque for £120 (never used the landline, was only for ADSL)

I misread that, oops. Like I said, I use option B. Since you pay in arrears, I see no problem with quarterly billing. You can just "pretend" it's monthly if you want to, it's just they don't collect the money every month.

The massive problem I had with my previous supplier (TalkTalk) was that all the extras you get for free with BT, you had to pay for. Most important to me was the caller ID; free with BT but not so with most other suppliers. They also charged something like £1 if you used 1471, and I don't think 1571 was free either.

Since local and national calls are free with most providers now, and the line rental is the same, BT worked out the cheapest option.

Now, if I had access to cable then the story might be different...

they are bringing the line rental in line so all line rental charges are from the 21 of each month
so if you are billed at the beginning (first week) of the month they will add extra line rental charges for that month of about 3 weeks

in my case is was an extra £8.97p for my bill as i pay the whole bill every month by DD
but this was billed without any notification of any kind either by post or email

after a heated conversation they relented that no notification was given in regard to these extra charges for that month and offered me 2 months free line rental for January and February bills

just giving you the heads up …